Κλειω
by attu
Summary: Ember hadn't always been a rock star. Well, Ember had. But her spirit had been many other things through the ages. Muse, goddess, other titles here and there. Written for Day 4 of Phanniemay '16: Ember.


**Κλειω**

 _Written for Phanniemay '16, Day 4: Ember_

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Ember hadn't always been a rock star. Well, Ember had. But her spirit had been many other things through the ages. Muse, goddess, other titles here and there.

There was a lot more going on in the ghost zone than many would believe. Current scientific thought from leading scientists stipulated that the Ghost Zone was nothing more than a dimension filled with a kind of energy that could absorb post-human consciousness released at the time of death.

However, there was more to the Ghost Zone than ecto-energy and the consciousness of the dead. There were entities that defied measurement, beings that flouted reason that called the Ghost Zone home. These were immortals that humans named deities in a much less secular age. They were remembered now only in stories and tales as the imaginings of more primitive peoples but they were very much alive.

Well, as alive as a consciousness can be. The Greek Muses had been revered millennia ago. Beings of unimaginable creative power, it had amused them when the Romans saw fit to assign them specific attributes. While Kleio was perhaps the most practiced in the art of recording feats of glory and praise – her name itself meant "to make famous" – she was no less powerful than her sister Melpomene when it came to entrancing those who heard her voice or her sister Euterpe when it came to bestowing blessings with her uplifting music.

These things meant little, however, when the Roman Empire fell. Temples sacked, others abandoned, Kleio and her sisters were left to nothing but ruins. Worship and sacrifices petered out over time until they had no choice but to leave the human realm for that of the ghosts. The Ghost Zone was teeming with energy – plenty to feed the hungry gods. Still, with no one to sing their praises some of the old Greek and Roman gods simply faded away into nothingness. Others, like Kleio, remained as ghosts of ghosts, roaming the ethereal plane in search of something – or someone – that caught their interest.

Kronos, one of the few remaining Titans of Greek myth, found solace in a ghost named Clockwork. In Clockwork's temporal machinations he found a kindred spirit and remained with him as friend and advisor. Kleio had her pursuits over the years, but none caught her real attention. None until nearly two millennia after the fall of the Roman Empire.

The girl was drifting, lost, alone in the Ghost Zone. So soon after her death she'd managed to find a portal in the human realm to slip through into the green, comforting dimension but ever since had had trouble finding a real purpose in her existence. So, she drifted, trapped in an endless cycle of what remained of her human memories.

It was these memories that drew Kleio to her. The girl was a washed-up rock star, one of many who had tried to burn bright in the 1980's and had fallen into deep depression, drugs, and alcohol. She had died due to an overdose, the numerous needle scars in the crooks of her arms leaving a record of what had led to her demise. Failing to gain any real fame, her one regret was not having made a mark on society as so many others had.

Kleio sympathized more than anyone else could. She longed to be recognized, to be celebrated again. Much like this lost girl, she dreamed of enormous crowds screaming her name. She took some time to consider – though how long this time actually took was hard to tell in the Ghost Zone – but once she made her decision, she acted quickly.

The only manifestation she could manage was that of a voice in the girl's head. After some explanation – and several reassurances that no, the girl wasn't going insane after her death – the girl agreed wholeheartedly. Kleio offered her blessing to the girl in the purest sense of the term; the girl would have access to Kleio's abilities as a Muse so long as she continued to pursue and uphold the ideals they both held dear.

As Kleio's blessing fell upon the girl, her appearance began to change. Her clothes, as well as the guitar strung across her back, had been ragged and dirty since her death; both of these were cleaned, mended, and polished to an immaculate standard. Her smokey eye makeup painted itself down her face reminiscent of the end of a bass or treble clef. Finally and most striking, her dyed-blue ponytail stoked itself into an inferno, whipping in the changeable currents of the Ghost Zone.

The girl took her guitar off her back and fiddled with the new settings. Kleio realized that after all that travel through the girl's memories, she hadn't asked for the girl's name or offered her own.

 _My name is Kleio, Muse of History, She Who Extols and She Who Bestows Glory, Bearer of the Scroll. What is your name, young one?_

"My name is Ember McLain," the girl replied, her hair flaring up now in nonexistent winds.

"And they will remember my name."

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 **A/N:**

Whoops! Forgot I still had a few from Phanniemay that weren't in my Google Drive.

I thought it interesting to explore how the gods and goddesses of old related with the Ghost Zone. I did what research I could on the Muses from various mythology websites, so if I missed anything or got anything completely wrong I welcome corrections!

-attu


End file.
